névé

American  

[ney-vey] / neɪˈveɪ /

noun

1. granular snow accumulated on high mountains and subsequently compacted into glacial ice.

2. a field of such snow.

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névé British  

/ ˈnɛveɪ /

noun

1. Also called: firn.  a mass of porous ice, formed from snow, that has not yet become frozen into glacier ice

2. a snowfield at the head of a glacier that becomes transformed into ice

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névé Scientific  

/ nā-vā′ /

1. The upper part of a glacier, consisting of hardened snow.

2. The granular snow typically found in such a field.

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Etymology

Origin of névé

1850–55; < Franco-Provençal < Vulgar Latin *nivātum, noun use of neuter of Latin nivātus snow-cooled, equivalent to niv- (stem of nix snow ) + -ātus -ate ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

névé

Christmas Day, however, brought more trouble from crevasses—'very hard, smooth névé between high ridges at the edge of crevasses, and therefore very difficult to get foothold to pull the sledges.'

From The Voyages of Captain Scott : Retold from the Voyage of the Discovery and Scott's Last Expedition by Turley, Charles

At the lunch camp the snow covering was less than a foot, and at this it is a bare nine inches; patches of ice and hard névé are showing through in places.

From Scott's Last Expedition Volume I by Scott, Robert Falcon

They were quite invisible, being covered with a thin crust of hardened névé without a sign of a crack in it.

From Scott's Last Expedition Volume I by Scott, Robert Falcon

That part of a glacier which lies above the snow-line is styled névé; it is the fountain-head and source of supply to the glacier proper, which is the part that lies below the snow-line.

From Rivers of Ice by Ballantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael)

If, however, we trace one of the Swiss rivers to its source we shall generally find that it begins in a snow field or névé nestled in a shoulder of some great mountain.

From The Beauties of Nature and the Wonders of the World We Live In by Lubbock, John, Sir